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[john h]

Hello everyone,

I've had some bad problems after downloading to 12.529.  The main symptoms include:
First, when I tried to synch the Ipod, the software would freeze when finishing.
From that point forward, MC has crashed whenever I try to play a song.  The software crashes after about 15 seconds after I press play.  I either get a Windows message stating that it needed to close the program, or I've even gotten a few blue screens of death.
Today,  all my playlists (I have about 75) and all my song ratings disappeared.  They were there for the first few days after I upgraded.  Now, when I click on playlists, all I see are Recent Playing Now and Recently Imported.

I thought it may be problems relating to installing Service Pack 3 and all those new Windows updates, but I'm very worried.  I've tried rebooting, etc. 

I've used MJ and MC for many years now with not a single problem.  I was thinking I might just need to try a clean install, perhaps to 12.530, but I'm worried that I have lost my playlists and ratings tags.  I looked in my MC Library folders in the Applications Data folders, and I see some Library backups (I remember doing one in June or July but there are some there with august dates, so perhaps the software now does it automatically too?).  I also exported almost all my playlists on 8/14/2008 to get picked up by my sonos players, so they are there.  I guess I could reinstall, I just wanted to check here first to see if there might be an easier way and to ensure I don't erase anything.

All that said, any recommendations?  I really don't want to lose all my hard work over the years tagging and creating playlists.

My data: MC 12.529
Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600
Pentium 4 3.0GHz, 1024 MB RAM

I'd be glad to post any other info needed.

Thanks as always,
John

[rpalmer68]

MC does do automatic library backups, so you should have something there that is quite recent.

Install the latest version (.531 now) create a new library and restore the latest backup and see how that goes as what you report is certainly a little odd.

Richard

[JimH]

Things to try...

Try Redetect Devices under Options for Handhelds to see if MC can find the iPod again.

Reboot and reinstall the latest build (531).

Restoring a backup is a good idea.

If that doesn't work, uninstall, removing the registry entries.

Please copy your system info and paste it here.

[JimH]

First, when I tried to synch the Ipod, the software would freeze when finishing.
From that point forward, MC has crashed whenever I try to play a song.  The software crashes after about 15 seconds after I press play.  I either get a Windows message stating that it needed to close the program, or I've even gotten a few blue screens of death.

A BSOD is probably a driver problem or other hardware issue.

When you say "try to play", do you mean a song from the iPod or from the PC?  Any song?  Any type of track?  MP3?

[john h]

Hello, Jim and Richard.  It was playing a song on MC that caused the software to crash. 

I think I'm going to try reinstalling the software; I've had issues before where this worked just because the earlier install went wrong for some reason.  And it doesn't sound like doing so will delete any of the library backups, so I don't need to move any of the backup files as they won't be overwritten with the re-install???

Also, I have read on this board that the ratings tags are stored in the music files themselves, so a re-install should pick them up automatically, right?  Then it's just a matter of restoring the playlists on a library restore.

One last question--do I uninstall the existing MC version first, and then install 12.531, or can I just click the link for 12.531 and have the old version overwritten with the new?

If that doesn't work, I'll come back and paste the system info, unless you would like that first.

[JimH]

You don't need to uninstall.

Was the song you played in MC one that was located on the iPod?

[BartMan01]

What types of tracks are these?  Since you mention an iPod are they by chance Apple DRMed tracks?  I am having similar issues with those on .530 - frequent crashes and system blue-screens (mentioned in another thread) when doing anything with those files.  One of those crashes resulted in a loss of all my playlists and I had to restore a backup that was a couple of days old to get them back.

[glynor]

Also, I have read on this board that the ratings tags are stored in the music files themselves, so a re-install should pick them up automatically, right?  Then it's just a matter of restoring the playlists on a library restore.

A reinstall (even with a full uninstall first) won't erase your library unless you tell it to, so it is irrelevant where stuff is stored.  If you think your library might be corrupt (unlikely based on the reported issue) then I'd use one of the backups (it does automatically create them with some regularity).  Ask and we can help you do this if you get there.  I wouldn't go there first though.

I'll say though, sounds like a hardware/driver issue to me.  Perhaps even bad RAM or bad hard drive.  The old install could have worked because it managed to get installed properly, but the new install got corrupted by the bad RAM or hard drive or whatever.  It shouldn't be bluescreening on playback of plain old vanilla files (if they are Apple DRM-laden files then all bets are off).

I'd first try re-downloading and reinstalling the current build of MC just right overtop of what you have now.  All your settings, playlists, library and everything will remain intact.

If that fails, I'd try completely uninstalling it (but don't check the option to remove the library files -- do remove the registry entries though).  Reboot.  Reinstall the latest build from scratch.  Your library will remain intact, but all the other "settings" will get nuked.

If that fails, then I'd try checking for driver updates for your sound card and/or motherboard, but also let us know.

[john h]

Friends, an update:

I uninstalled and reinstalled MC 12.531.  I have been playing back songs fine, no more problems so far.  I restored my library, and all my playlists and ratings tags are fine.  I synched my Ipod; it worked fine, altho seemed to take a long time during the "finishing" stage and it seems at first glance some of the album art is wrong.  I'm not too worried about that now, if problems persist I'll post on handheld board.   Couple things:

(1) whoever included an automatic library backup is due a drink on me.  I do a backup irregularly, but someone was thinking for me on that one.  Now, with my external hard drive, I am saved regularly.

(2) My problems with playback involved regular mp3 and flac files, played directly from hard drive.  So I don't think I share the same problem with BartMan.  Plus, I hate mp4 files.  I'm with you, Glynor; I've used emusic from the unlimited download days and now am happy with amazon.  Not to diss the BartMan.

(3) the guy who complained earlier about customer support for his virtual machine setup is nuts.  I've encountered a lot of customer service in my day, from the worst of the worst (Parallels) to the best, which is clearly here.  I lurk on this board not only to keep up with MC issues, but to learn about other computer stuff too.  It's a different model to use a forum for customer support and other companies are trying to use it too (sonos, even directtv), but no one comes close to the help here that I've had for years.

Cheers,
John

[BartMan01]

So I don't think I share the same problem with BartMan.  Plus, I hate mp4 files.  I'm with you, Glynor; I've used emusic from the unlimited download days and now am happy with amazon.  Not to diss the BartMan.

Glad to hear you got the issues sorted out.  Don't worry about hurting my feelings, I agree with you and Glynor - I just can't get my wife to 'see the light' and her new iPhone 3G and MacBook Air have led to a sudden growth in the drm'ed Apple junk in our library.  The only way I will buy music from Apple will be due to having some free credit (have about $18 in those right now) and even then I only buy the + (non-drm) stuff.

[JimH]

Since the crash is now solved and there are other topics under discussion, I'll close this and ask you to move other discussion to new threads.  Thanks.